Aktualní umêní (Contemporary Art), a rare, hand-assembled magazine by the Czech artists’ group of the same name, began production in late 1964. In it, the newly founded group—including Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek—published its manifesto, documentation of its collective street actions, independent artistic contributions and statements by its members, and also Czech translations of international texts. Producing journals of radical art and ideas was illegal at this time in the former Czechoslovakia, so the magazine would have been circulated among friends rather than distributed openly through channels such as newsstands or the mail. In this way, Aktualní umêní functioned as an alternative exhibition space for work that might not have been shown elsewhere and also as a platform for sharing ideas and information within a largely censored environment.
Most scholars estimate that at most fifty copies of each issue were produced, considering the cost and labor involved as well as the limited potential for distribution. The magazine was published under the title Aktualní umêní for the first two issues, which could be considered the most significant in terms of their content and technical production. A third issue was published under the name Nutná činnost (The Necessary Activity, 1965), and from 1966 to 1968, Knížák produced three additional issues, dropping the magazine format altogether in favor of a more ephemeral and less costly newspaper presentation. Here, the first two issues are reproduced in their entirety for the first time, along with a unique prototype for the second issue, which offers an exceptional opportunity to compare plans and the final realization. Detailed information on the contents of each issue is included in extended annotations for several of the images below.
Issue No. 1
Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [1 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The first issue of
Aktualní umêní
was bound with a linen book-cloth cover secured with string; the interior pagesremained loose, like a portfolio. The cover bears a three-quarter portrait of a face under the deep shadow of acowboy hat, an image likely drawn from popular depictions of the Wild West in dime novels and films. A stockrenegade figure, the cowboy lives according to his own rules at the fringes of society—an appealing metaphor,perhaps, for the Aktual Group as they imagined the artist’s place in the contemporary world. Indeed the groupinvoked imagery from American Westerns again on the back cover of the prototype for issue 2, on which is collaged alarge black-and-white photograph of cowboys staged for a shoot-out.
The cover image and title were printed as a linoleum cut, a print technique that required little specialized training andcould be done inexpensively and by hand. This same image was repeated for the cover of the second issue.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [2 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [3 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [4 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The group’s manifesto, composed in 1964, appeared in this first issue of
Aktualní umêní
, where it served as themagazine’s featured contents. This title page, emblazoned with the Czech term manifest in fiery red, announced thegroup’s statement on the following two pages.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [5 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The manifesto declared the group’s radical approach to artistic practice, one that was based in action, provocation,and a new form of living. The phrases “total commitment” and “contemporary art” stretch across the page likebanners highlighting core concepts from the manifesto. The final paragraph reads: “We are not interested in aestheticnorms that serve as a measure of perfection. We are interested in man. To overcome the indifference and emotionalapathy so typical of modern mad, we will use, WE MUST USE forms that have the maximum effect.”
The main texts on these pages were printed using a spirit duplicate process, more commonly known in the UnitedStates as a “ditto.” Often used for small-run, do-it-yourself publications like fanzines, this process allowed only alimited number of copies to be made (at mediocre quality), but it was inexpensive and efficient.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [6 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The manifesto continues on this page with several declarative statements, beginning at the top of the page:“Therefore, NATURALISM, BANALITY, MAXIMALISM, PROVOCATION, PERVERSION, etc. TO SHOCK, FASCINATE,LAY BARE THE NERVES! To convince, TO CONVINCE MAXIMALLY! AWAY WITH PLEASANT FRIVOLITY IN ART!”
Signatures of the original members of the Aktual Group—Milan Knížák, Vit Mach, Jan Trtílek, Jan Mach, and SoniaŠvecová (in order of their signing)—close the manifesto, underscoring its production as a group statement.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [7 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Czech term
my
(we) opens the next section, which includes short statements by each member of the group.Švecová, for example, writes about her interest in everyday objects and their relationship to the human body, while VitMach, who was trained as a musician, writes about music. The very inclusion of a “we” section showcasing theseindependent contributions suggests the important roles played by individuals within this collective.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [8 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [9 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [11 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [12 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [13 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [14 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [15 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [16 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
This final page serves as a bookend for the manifesto within this issue, pulling out several of its key phrases andprinting them all together as a designed page.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [17 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008
Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [2 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [3 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [4 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The group’s manifesto, composed in 1964, appeared in this first issue of
Aktualní umêní
, where it served as themagazine’s featured contents. This title page, emblazoned with the Czech term manifest in fiery red, announced thegroup’s statement on the following two pages.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [5 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The manifesto declared the group’s radical approach to artistic practice, one that was based in action, provocation,and a new form of living. The phrases “total commitment” and “contemporary art” stretch across the page likebanners highlighting core concepts from the manifesto. The final paragraph reads: “We are not interested in aestheticnorms that serve as a measure of perfection. We are interested in man. To overcome the indifference and emotionalapathy so typical of modern mad, we will use, WE MUST USE forms that have the maximum effect.”
The main texts on these pages were printed using a spirit duplicate process, more commonly known in the UnitedStates as a “ditto.” Often used for small-run, do-it-yourself publications like fanzines, this process allowed only alimited number of copies to be made (at mediocre quality), but it was inexpensive and efficient.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [6 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The manifesto continues on this page with several declarative statements, beginning at the top of the page:“Therefore, NATURALISM, BANALITY, MAXIMALISM, PROVOCATION, PERVERSION, etc. TO SHOCK, FASCINATE,LAY BARE THE NERVES! To convince, TO CONVINCE MAXIMALLY! AWAY WITH PLEASANT FRIVOLITY IN ART!”
Signatures of the original members of the Aktual Group—Milan Knížák, Vit Mach, Jan Trtílek, Jan Mach, and SoniaŠvecová (in order of their signing)—close the manifesto, underscoring its production as a group statement.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [7 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Czech term
my
(we) opens the next section, which includes short statements by each member of the group.Švecová, for example, writes about her interest in everyday objects and their relationship to the human body, while VitMach, who was trained as a musician, writes about music. The very inclusion of a “we” section showcasing theseindependent contributions suggests the important roles played by individuals within this collective.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [8 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [9 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [11 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [12 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [13 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [14 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [15 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [16 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
This final page serves as a bookend for the manifesto within this issue, pulling out several of its key phrases andprinting them all together as a designed page.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktuální umĕni no. 1. 1964 [17 of 17]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 7/8 x 1/8″ (30.8 x 22.6 x 0.3 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008
Issue No. 2
Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [1 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The cover for the second issue echoes the first, only printed on red paper this time.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008AAktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [2 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
Inside this issue, which also contains loose pages (some fastened together with staples or paper clips), one first encounters the irreverent declaration, “GET A CAT,” printed on a sheet overlaying a piece of fringed and burned burlap. This same statement was used by the group in its Paper Gliders event (October 1965; see folder no. 20 in the “Performance Files”), during which paper airplanes with short phrases written on each were tossed by participants from Prague Castle to passersby in Hradčany Square below.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [3 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The burlap was burned to form a peep-hole through which one of the themes of this issue could be announced—“umení / happenings”—a combination of the Czech word for “art” and the relatively recent English term “happenings,” which was coined by Allan Kaprow in the late 1950s to describe events, situations, or performances that, while typically scripted, were nonlinear, illogical, and involved participation from viewers. The members of Aktual saw their activity as a distinct type of “happening” from the Western model, and this debate would be taken up in this issue.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [4 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [5 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The following ten pages (some typed on blue transfer paper, some on cream) comprise a Czech translation of “The Art of the Happening,” a joint “action lecture” by Allan Kaprow and Wolf Vostell that took place at the Cricket Theater in New York on April 19, 1964. A German version of this transcript was published the following year as part of Jürgen Beck and Wolf Vostell’s book Happenings, Fluxus, Pop art, Nouveau réalisme: Eine Dokumentation (Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1965), and it is likely that this Czech version was an original translation based on that German text. In the lecture, the American Kaprow and German Vostell presented their respective views on the concept of the “happening.”
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008
Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965) [6 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [7 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [8 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [9 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [10 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [11 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [12 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [13 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [14 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection GiftAktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [15 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection GiftAktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [16 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
Following the translation of the Kaprow-Vostell conversation, this page—handwritten in felt-tip pen and pencil—includes a statement by Aktual distinguishing its own action-based work from the idea of the “happening” defined bythe two Western artists. Knížák would later clarify this distinction in a 1966 text, in which he begins, “Thank god forthe so-called Iron Curtain . . . One couldn’t see through the ‘curtain.’ But this perfect isolation meant that we did notdegenerate as swiftly or as tragically as the rest of Europe.”
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [17 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [18 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
Knížák’s contribution, indicated by the design using his initials (made as a diazotype, or “blueprint”), is the first in thisissue’s
texty
(texts) section, which includes pages dedicated to individuals in the group. The contributions includedescriptions of the group’s actions, independent designs, and other work.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [19 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [20 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [21 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [22 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [23 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [24 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [25 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [26 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [27 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008https://post.at.moma.org/content_items/556-away-with-pleasant-frivolity-in-art-the-aktual-group-and-its-magazine-aktualni-umeni/media_collection_items/6819 29/45
Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [28 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [29 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [30 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [31 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [32 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [33 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [34 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [35 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [36 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [37 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [38 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [39 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [40 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The final two pages of this issue include a newspaper page and a cover of the Czech journal
Tvář
(Face), a monthlycultural magazine in which Aktual’s manifesto had been published in early 1965. The inclusion of these clippingsoffers a sense of the broader media landscape within Czechoslovakia at this time, contextualizing
Aktualní umêní
within this frame.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [41 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm). The final two pages of this issueinclude a newspaper page and a cover of the Czech journal
Tvář
(Face), a monthly cultural magazine in whichAktual’s manifesto had been published in early 1965. The inclusion of these clippings offers a sense of the broadermedia landscape within Czechoslovakia at this time, contextualizing
Aktualní umêní
within this frame.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965) [42 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [43 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [44 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008
AAktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [2 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
Inside this issue, which also contains loose pages (some fastened together with staples or paper clips), one first encounters the irreverent declaration, “GET A CAT,” printed on a sheet overlaying a piece of fringed and burned burlap. This same statement was used by the group in its Paper Gliders event (October 1965; see folder no. 20 in the “Performance Files”), during which paper airplanes with short phrases written on each were tossed by participants from Prague Castle to passersby in Hradčany Square below.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [3 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The burlap was burned to form a peep-hole through which one of the themes of this issue could be announced—“umení / happenings”—a combination of the Czech word for “art” and the relatively recent English term “happenings,” which was coined by Allan Kaprow in the late 1950s to describe events, situations, or performances that, while typically scripted, were nonlinear, illogical, and involved participation from viewers. The members of Aktual saw their activity as a distinct type of “happening” from the Western model, and this debate would be taken up in this issue.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [4 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [5 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The following ten pages (some typed on blue transfer paper, some on cream) comprise a Czech translation of “The Art of the Happening,” a joint “action lecture” by Allan Kaprow and Wolf Vostell that took place at the Cricket Theater in New York on April 19, 1964. A German version of this transcript was published the following year as part of Jürgen Beck and Wolf Vostell’s book Happenings, Fluxus, Pop art, Nouveau réalisme: Eine Dokumentation (Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1965), and it is likely that this Czech version was an original translation based on that German text. In the lecture, the American Kaprow and German Vostell presented their respective views on the concept of the “happening.”
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008
Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965) [6 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [7 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [8 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [9 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [10 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [11 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [12 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [13 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [14 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection GiftAktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [15 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection GiftAktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [16 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
Following the translation of the Kaprow-Vostell conversation, this page—handwritten in felt-tip pen and pencil—includes a statement by Aktual distinguishing its own action-based work from the idea of the “happening” defined bythe two Western artists. Knížák would later clarify this distinction in a 1966 text, in which he begins, “Thank god forthe so-called Iron Curtain . . . One couldn’t see through the ‘curtain.’ But this perfect isolation meant that we did notdegenerate as swiftly or as tragically as the rest of Europe.”
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [17 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [18 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
Knížák’s contribution, indicated by the design using his initials (made as a diazotype, or “blueprint”), is the first in thisissue’s
texty
(texts) section, which includes pages dedicated to individuals in the group. The contributions includedescriptions of the group’s actions, independent designs, and other work.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [19 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [20 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [21 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [22 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [23 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [24 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [25 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [26 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [27 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008https://post.at.moma.org/content_items/556-away-with-pleasant-frivolity-in-art-the-aktual-group-and-its-magazine-aktualni-umeni/media_collection_items/6819 29/45
Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [28 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [29 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [30 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [31 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [32 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [33 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [34 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [35 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [36 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [37 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [38 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [39 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [40 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The final two pages of this issue include a newspaper page and a cover of the Czech journal
Tvář
(Face), a monthlycultural magazine in which Aktual’s manifesto had been published in early 1965. The inclusion of these clippingsoffers a sense of the broader media landscape within Czechoslovakia at this time, contextualizing
Aktualní umêní
within this frame.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [41 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm). The final two pages of this issueinclude a newspaper page and a cover of the Czech journal
Tvář
(Face), a monthly cultural magazine in whichAktual’s manifesto had been published in early 1965. The inclusion of these clippings offers a sense of the broadermedia landscape within Czechoslovakia at this time, contextualizing
Aktualní umêní
within this frame.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965) [42 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [43 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [44 of 44]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/8 x 8 15/16 x 1/4″ (30.8 x 22.7 x 0.6 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008
Prototype for No. 2
Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [18 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [19 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
Photographs from
The Aktual Walk / Demonstration for All Senses
appear on both sides of one page, the firstfeaturing Vit Mach playing contrabass on the street and the second showing a group gathered around an overturnedwheelbarrow left in the street, with Knížák—in hand-painted pants and custom styled shirt—approaching from theleft.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [20 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
Photographs from
The Aktual Walk / Demonstration for All Senses
appear on both sides of one page, the firstfeaturing Vit Mach playing contrabass on the street and the second showing a group gathered around an overturnedwheelbarrow left in the street, with Knížák—in hand-painted pants and custom styled shirt—approaching from theleft.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [21 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [22 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
This photograph documents part of the action
Demonstration of Oneself
, also known as
Demonstration for One
(1964; see
folder no. 8
in the “Performance Files”) in which the individual is to lie down in the street with a posterreading “I beg the passersby, if possible, while passing this place to crow.”
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [23 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [24 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [25 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [26 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [27 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [28 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [29 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [30 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [31 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
As Knížák and Vit Mach also do their sections, Švecová experiments with different paper types in her contribution,using pink paper for her typewritten texts.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [32 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [33 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [34 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [35 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [36 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [37 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [38 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [39 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [40 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
For this prototype, the artists considered using an image for the magazine’s back cover, offering a complement to thefront cover. This photograph of seven cowboys, poised as if ready for a shoot-out, may have served as a source orsimply inspiration for the linocut image used on the covers.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008
Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [18 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [19 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
Photographs from
The Aktual Walk / Demonstration for All Senses
appear on both sides of one page, the firstfeaturing Vit Mach playing contrabass on the street and the second showing a group gathered around an overturnedwheelbarrow left in the street, with Knížák—in hand-painted pants and custom styled shirt—approaching from theleft.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [20 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
Photographs from
The Aktual Walk / Demonstration for All Senses
appear on both sides of one page, the firstfeaturing Vit Mach playing contrabass on the street and the second showing a group gathered around an overturnedwheelbarrow left in the street, with Knížák—in hand-painted pants and custom styled shirt—approaching from theleft.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [21 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [22 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
This photograph documents part of the action
Demonstration of Oneself
, also known as
Demonstration for One
(1964; see
folder no. 8
in the “Performance Files”) in which the individual is to lie down in the street with a posterreading “I beg the passersby, if possible, while passing this place to crow.”
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [23 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [24 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [25 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [26 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [27 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [28 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [29 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [30 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [31 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
As Knížák and Vit Mach also do their sections, Švecová experiments with different paper types in her contribution,using pink paper for her typewritten texts.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [32 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [33 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [34 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [35 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [36 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [37 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [38 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [39 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)Prototype for Aktualní umêní no. 2. 1965 [40 of 40]
Aktualní umêní (Milan Knížák, Jan Mach, Vit Mach, Sonia Švecová, and Jan Trtílek)
Artists’ magazine, overall (closed): 12 1/16 x 8 7/8 x 3/8″ (30.7 x 22.5 x 1 cm).
For this prototype, the artists considered using an image for the magazine’s back cover, offering a complement to thefront cover. This photograph of seven cowboys, poised as if ready for a shoot-out, may have served as a source orsimply inspiration for the linocut image used on the covers.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection Gift, 2008
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was established in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1961, during the peak of the Cold War, drawing inspiration from the principles of the 1955 Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung, Indonesia. Founded by developing countries opposed to formal alignment with either the United States or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, NAM advocated for national…
This essay examines the practice of architecture and the roles assigned to female architects in Latvia in the 1950s to the early 1990s through the life and work of Latvian architect Marta Staņa. My initial encounter with Marta Staņa (1913–1972) and her work in architecture occurred in 2002 when, as a young architecture journalist, I…
This conversation, which took place as a collaboration between the International Program and Research Programs at MoMA, featured presentations by the directors of two important art museums in Kyiv on the crises faced by their institutions since the Russian invasion in February 2022. The National Art and Culture Museum Complex Mystetskyi Arsenal (Art Arsenal) is…
